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Hardened officers ‘nauseated’ by ‘evil’ dad charged with sex offences against three daughters

Author of the article:

Jonny Wakefield

Publishing date:

June 9, 2017 • 3 minute read

Acting Insp. Pamela Robinson and Staff Sgt. Stephen Camp address a media conference about charges laid against a rural Alberta man related to the sexual abuse of his three daughters over the course of six years.Jonny Wakefield/ Edmonton Journal

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The Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit, part of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT), began its investigation in October 2016, and arrested the man in a high-risk raid the following month.

“The arrests may have stopped the abuse, but this family’s nightmare continues,” she said.

The sexual charges against the 41-year-old man, in custody since his arrest, include two counts of incest, human trafficking, arranging for a sexual offence against a child, two counts of sexual assault with a weapon, as well as making child pornography.

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The accused also faces 17 firearms-related offences, for a total of 40 charges.

The man lived on what investigators described as a rural “compound” with the three girls, two brothers and the children’s mother. The girls were home-schooled. The mother was described as a victim who was manipulated by her husband.

Edmonton police Staff Sgt. Stephen Camp, who oversees ICE, said a witness who was close to the family tipped off law enforcement officers about the sexual abuse.

‘Monstrous’ crimes

“It is quite nauseating for our seasoned officers here,” he said. “It makes investigators feel quite sick to think that for so many years of their childhood (the girls) were psychologically imprisoned by their father for a sick and sexual purpose. These crimes were quite monstrous to the family and to society at large.”

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The investigation is the unit’s largest to date, involving dozens of officers from multiple agencies.

Police allege the father sexually abused his daughters, all under the age of 18, multiple times over the past six years. One was “procured for sex” with strangers on multiple occasions through Internet advertisements, instances which the father recorded on video.

Camp said the investigation continues, including into people who may have appeared in the footage.

When the man was arrested Nov. 16, officers seized 40 restricted handguns and rifles, a machine gun and “a dozen prohibited devices,” according to a news release.

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“There was a considerable amount of firepower at that residence, which presented a tricky and unknown and immeasurable risk to our investigators in their attempts to enter the residence to rescue the girls,” Camp said.

Officers said the man did not offer any resistance.

The charges to date include:

Human trafficking;

Incest (x 2);

Parent procuring child for sexual activity (x 2);

Arrange a sexual offence against a child;

Sexual assault (x 5);

Sexual assault with a weapon (x 2);

Sexual exploitation (x 4);

Sexual interference;

Invitation to sexual touching;

Sexual interference;

Making child pornography;

Distributing child pornography; and

Possession child pornography.

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The man’s name is covered by a court-ordered publication ban to protect the identities of the victims. The location of the residence is also being withheld. Camp would also not reveal the current ages of the victims for privacy reasons.

RCMP, Edmonton police, Child and Family Services, Zebra Child Protection and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection have been involved in the case. Camp said the girls are beginning a long road to recovery with help from child abuse support services.

“No child should have to endure what these three girls have survived,” he said.

The man is set to appear in court June 12 in Evansburg, a hamlet about 100 km west of Edmonton.

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